Camp Kirkland: Day 25 (p.m. version)

WORD OF THE DAY
Returns. As in, kickoff returns. As in, Josh Wilson did a bang-up job at it against the Packers in Green Bay on Saturday night.

Or did he?

Wilson averaged 26.8 yards on six kickoff returns, and his average would have been even higher if holding penalties has not robbed him of an additional 50 yards.

But it was the way the team’s top draft choice got some of those yards that concerned coach Mike Holmgren and special teams coach Bruce DeHaven.

“He was OK,” Holmgren said after the game. “Again, I think there were a couple of times he should have taken it (straight up the field), and he cutback and he got hit. He’s going to fumble the ball.”

DeHaven explained that cutting back and going against the grain – as Wilson did so successfully at Maryland – is a dangerous option and actually shouldn’t work in the NFL.

“I wasn’t sure he’d be able to do that in this league,” DeHaven said. “But he got away with it a couple of times the other night, so he must be pretty fast.”

Does DeHaven encourage that? “No. No. No,” DeHaven said. “You usually can’t get away with breaking things back in the opposite direction in this league. Guys are too fast to let you run around the corner on them.”

Except that Wilson did it.

“I just try to make a play,” Wilson said, with a nervous laugh. “I try to follow the returns. But once you get out there, you’ve just got to find the hole.

“I’m not trying to go out there and do my own thing,” he said. “I’m just trying to make a play.”

PLAYER OF THE DAY
Ryan Plackemeier. He punts. He pitches. Now, he passes.

The team’s second-year punter was passing the ball in some drills during the 50-minute, special teams-only session. To save his leg, after he punted eight times against the Packers. But also to better control the drill, since the strong-legged Plackemeier often launches punts well over the head of the returner.

This, one day after Plackemeier beat professional golfers Jerry Pate and Jim Colbert in a closest-to-the-pin contest after the morning practice.

“I know he’s got a heckuva golf swing. I’m not sure about the throwing motion, though,” said safety Brian Russell, a former college and high school quarterback. “I think, stick to punting for Plack.”

COLONEL CLINK
Wednesday was Mike Clark’s 53rd birthday. The players toasted the team’s strength and conditioning coach, whom they call “The Colonel,” by singing Happy Birthday to him after the morning practice.

And, yes, when they got to the last “Happy Birthday …” it was “Dear Colonel.”

QUOTE UNQUOTE
“He told me, ‘As long as you’re here, I’m here.’ When a player tells you that, and he was sincere about it, that’s a good thing.” – Holmgren, on backup QB Seneca Wallace signing a contract extension rather than testing the free-agent market after the season.